


A Trip To The Winter Palace

by orphan_account



Series: A Trip To The Winter Palace [1]
Category: Thor (Comics), Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-20
Updated: 2013-01-21
Packaged: 2017-11-26 05:07:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/646916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor accompanies Odin on a trip to Jotunheim where negotiations of a peace treaty are to be made with King Laufey. Thor's interests are more captured however by Laufey's exotic, and charming son, Loki, who seems adamant on distracting Thor from his royal duties with his entrancing looks and devious wiles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter one

**Author's Note:**

> Phew okay, well this is my first work for this fandom, it's completely in beta'd and really just something to get me back in the game...
> 
> PLEASE READ!  
> Notes:  
> -please imagine Jotunheim to look much like it does in the film, pretty desolate and war ravaged  
> -in this story Asgard has beaten Jotunheim and taken the casket from them, that is the main reason Laufey is so desperate to make peace but more depth will be added to this in later parts  
> -Loki has horns in this because horned!Loki is one of my guilty pleasures, lets say for the sake of this fic that the occasional Jotun does grow horns, but it is very uncommon, and something to be proud of.
> 
> Okay I think that's it for now, please enjoy, and all feedback is welcome!

Upon exiting the Bifrost and landing in the cold vast landscapes of Jotunheim, it occurs to Thor that perhaps he should have listened when he was advised to dress a little warmer.   
The howling wind whips around their party and bites at Thor's hands and face forcing him to clench his fists in order to fight back the strong urge to shiver.   
Next to him, Odin, king and Allfather of Asgard, casts him a side wards glance, daring him to complain. Thor bites his tongue.   
The royal party, consisting of Odin, Thor, and a handful of trusted guards and servants, were met at the Bifrost site by a much smaller number of Jotun palace guards, sent by Laufey himself.  
Very few words were exchanged between the guards and the royal party, the Jotuns seemingly uninterested in making small talk with the man who brought down their once great homeland.   
As the made their way to the Winter Palace, Thor gritted his teeth and clenched his fists to fight off the cold, remembering how his father had warned him of just this before their departure.  
"Jotunheim is a bitter realm Thor, ice cold winds that will chill you to the bone, but we are here to negotiate with Laufey, and that won't happen if we insult him with shivers and childish complaints of cold." Thor had nodded at this, taking note of the way his father had frowned at the prospect of 'negotiating' with the Jotun king.  
It was obvious that Odin saw nothing Jotunheim could offer him for the return of the stolen casket that had led to their downfall. And yet here they were, travelling to the palace as a show of good will to Laufey and his people, they would stay in Jotunheim for a month during which time Odin and Laufey would discuss the possibility of a treaty, with Thor sitting alongside his father to learn 'what is expected of you as future king'. 

The Winter Palace was much grander than the rest of the realm, appearing to be the only part of Jotunheim not ravaged by war. The gates of the building were guarded by a large band of Jotuns, each much bigger, and wider than Thor, not that he doubted for a second that he couldn't beat any of them in battle. Each of the guards stared coldly at the Aesir group as they passed through the gates and into an icy courtyard, Jotuns looking down at them from higher balconies and windows, Thor felt the hundreds of eyes follow them as they approached the welcome party, at the front stood Laufey, flanked by the two warrior princes; Býleistr, and Helblindi. Surrounding them was a small army of servants, a weak attempt to show Odin he had not reduced the royal family to a life akin of that of a peasant's.   
"Allfather." Laufeys tone was light and he smiled as he stepped forward, bowing his head to Odin in a show of respect.  
"Laufey," Odin replied, he gestured to Thor at his side, "My son, Thor."  
"Ah yes, the almighty warrior Thor, may I introduce Býleistr and Helblindi, two of my own sons, I'm afraid you shall have to meet my third at a later date as he was feeling much too unwell to greet Odin king today." The sly smile that seemed permanently etched onto Laufeys face unnerved Thor, yet he kept his expression blank and followed silently after his father as Laufey showed them into the palace.   
"We have arranged chambers for your party, warm chambers with fires and furs, I'm sure you shall feel quite at home."  
"How thoughtful," Odin said without any indication in his voice that he meant it. Laufey smiled despite this and made a vague gesture with his arms that brought forth a handful of servants.  
"Show our guests to their rooms, I'm sure they are all very tired after their travels. You may rest up for now, our attendants shall send for you later when the feast is prepared."  
Another unnerving smile from Laufey as the servants led the group past him and towards the impressively large staircase.

\--------

Thor followed the Jotun leading him to his room up several flights of stairs and down many hallways, the architecture of the palace was almost as maze like as the Asgardian palace he was used to.  
"Here you are Odinson. The king hopes it will suit your needs." The servant bowed but not low enough considering Thor's royal stature.  
"Thank you." Thor said dryly, not quite used to such a low level of respect from servants. 'He didn't even open the door for me' Thor thought grouchily as he entered the room and closed the large creaking doors behind him.

The first thing he noticed was that the room was warm. There was a roaring fire at the far end, from which a substantial heat was radiating and Thor moved closer to it instinctively, rubbing his hands together to get the feeling back in them. He looks around the room in earnest, a large four poster bed with plush furs and soft sheets stood as the main focus of the room, there were large plush rugs layed out on the floor, but aside from those the rest of the room, floors and walls, were ice.   
Only magic could be stopping the room from melting from the fire, Thor realised, and gained a little more respect for Jotunheim. Sorcerers and magic wielders were uncommon on Asgard, and the few that they had could only cast simple healing magic, it was unheard of for entire rooms to be enchanted such as this and Thor marvelled at it, running his hands along the walls and feeling the icy chill that still emanated from them.   
"How interesting, it would be to meet the sorcerer who's work this is..." Thor mused to himself before stripping off his outer robes and settling down on the bed to rest.

\-------

When Thor wakes from his sleep, the sky outside his window looks much darker than when they arrived, and he momentarily wonders if they had forgotten to wake him up for the feast. However after finding a servant in the hall outside his quarters he is informed the feast was not yet for a while and decides he has time for a walk around the palace.  
He makes sure to pull an extra fur cape from his trunk before he wanders off and is soon glad for it as the biting cold hits him hard as soon as he strays from the warmth of his rooms.

As expected, the palace holds Thor's interests for all of ten minutes before he bores of all the identical rooms and glares from passing Palace staff, as he wanders down a corridor indistinguishable from the last, it dawns on him that he has no way of finding his way back to his room, he stops in the middle of the hall and looks this way and that. 

To his left is yet another staircase leading to the lower levels of the palace, Thor scowls, knowing full well that if he starts going up and down stairs he'll be even more lost in a matter of minutes. To his right however stand two figures, speaking quietly. Both figures are obviously Jotuns, one he recognises as Laufey's son, Helblindi, a large, gruff looking Jotun dresses in minimal clothing just as most others in this realm. The second figure however was different to any of the race he'd ever seen, standing much smaller and slighter than the prince, this Jotun had long braided hair, cascading down to his hips, with spun gold woven into it that shone in the light. Smooth curved horns emerged from his head, also spun with gold. Gold bangles and other finery adorned his wrists, neck, and ankles making him appear utterly regal and entrancing. Thor couldn't help staring a little, this new and exotic creature capturing his interests. Like all the other Jotuns Thor had seen so far, he walked barefooted around the palace with a loincloth type article draped around his waist, however there was also a very large and thick fur cape draped around his shoulders, most Jotuns, Thor thought, would have hated the warmth that would come from such a cloak, making this stranger even more intriguing.

As he watched, Helblindi nodded a few times, speaking softly once more before turning to leave, the smaller Jotun seemed to let out a sigh of relief at the prince's departure and turned around only to meet Thor's gaze. He froze, eyes widening for a moment for a moment before composing himself.  
"Good evening son of Odin." He speaks calmly, his voice just as entrancing as he is, and as he approaches Thor becomes aware of the sweet smell of honey and foreign spices.  
"And to you stranger, it would seem we have not yet been introduced."  
The peculiar man hums in agreement and yet does not offer introductions, instead looks Thor up and down slowly.  
"How do you find your rooms? Warm enough for your Aesir blood I hope?"  
Thor nods, "Aye, the spell cast over them is truly impressive, the sorcerer here is remarkably powerful."  
The stranger smiled, "why thank you, it did take a lot of practicing before I perfected it mind you."  
Thor beamed, "You are the palace sorcerer?"  
"Well, not exactly, but it's always nice to have a talent recognised...my name is Loki, I'm the third son of Laufey." Loki extended his hand towards Thor who took it and pressed a kiss to his knuckles, not stopping to think of the implications.   
"A pleasure to finally meet the elusive Prince of Jotunheim"  
"And an honour for I as well, we know many tales of your conquests Odinson."  
Thor chuckled, "do you really?"  
"You'd be surprised, you shall have to recall some of your greatest stories of adventure to me sometime, I would so love to know more."  
Thor smiles and is about to reply when another Jotun figure rounds the corner.  
"King Laufey requests the presence of Prince Loki and Prince Thor of Asgard in the great hall at once!" He calls, bowing low, although that was probably for Loki's sake rather than Thor's.  
Loki waves away the message bearer and bows his head slightly to Thor. "Until we meet again Son of Odin." And with that he disappears swiftly down the hall, leaving Thor stood in the indistinguishable corridor wondering how on earth he was supposed to find his way to the great hall.


	2. Chapter two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor discovered just how ruined Jotunheim has become and makes a promise that perhaps Odin will not allow him to keep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not as happy with this chapter, I feel like Loki is horrifically ooc, but with this just being a fic to test if I can still do this, I'm not too worried.  
> As always feedback would be wonderful, enjoy!
> 
> This chapter is also a fair bit shorter I think, but hopefully and update will come soon after.

It took Thor a good twenty minutes to find his way down to where the feast was being held, no thanks to the ignorant and scathing palace staff who refused to help him. The look on Odin's face when he finally entered the great hall was thunderous, despite Laufey's light-hearted joke of "how nice of you to join us Prince Thor."  
Thor took his seat at the right hand of his father and murmured an apology, avoiding looking at Odin until he felt his fathers gaze return to Laufey who stood from his seat and clapped his hands.  
"Now that all of our guests are present, I am happy to allow the feast to commence, but first, a toast," Laufey raised his goblet and everyone sat at the long table joined him, "to peace," Laufey announced, "and the possibility of new allies, and friends..." There was a chorus of "here here!" Throughout the room, but Odin only grunted before taking a swig of his own drink.  
It had not occurred to Thor before, but as servants descended upon the room, bringing in trays of food piled high, it became obvious that Jotuns had very different eating habit than Aesirs.  
There was a lot of fruit, vegetables, and cheese, very little meat was offered and that that was, was tough and tasteless.  
Thor's displeasure with the offered food must have been obvious on his face as not long into the meal Odin hissed a warning that he had better 'eat what was offered and look grateful or risk embarrassing me further'.  
Begrudgingly, Thor did as he was told, shovelling the greenery into his mouth and swallowing quickly to avoid tasting it too much.  
Eventually however, his eyes meandered down the table, being drawn almost instantly to Loki, sat by Helblindi and speaking complacently to the Jotun sat next to him, a member of the royal council by the looks of him.  
Loki caught Thor's gaze and looked up at him from beneath long eyelashes, a smug look on his face at having caught Thor staring. Neither of them dropped their gaze until Loki was addressed by his father and forced to turn away to answer him. Thor sighed and carried on with his most unsatisfying meal. Loki did not look to him again all evening, and Thor couldn't deny his disappointment.  
\-----  
"Half an hour late! What were you thinking boy?" Odin cried, pacing Thor's room and making large hand gestures to signal his anger.  
"I merely got lost father."  
"Got lost? Embarrassed me is what you did, of all the times for your foolishness to get the better if you. You have offended the king, I'm sure of it."  
"That was not my intention father! None of the serving staff would show me the way, what was I suppo-"  
"You are the future king of Asgard! You would think you would be able it find your way to a food hall with a little less difficulty!" Odin interrupted, he was yelling now, his voice reverberating off the ice walls for no doubt the entire palace to hear. Thor clenched his fists, knowing he could not shout back to his father without severe punishment.  
Instead, he bowed his head, breathing steadily as he waited for Odin to finish his rant.  
"I'm sorry father, I was foolish, it will not happen again."  
"See to it that it doesn't Thor, we are guests here, remember that."  
With a final grunt, Odin left the room, the large doors banging closed behind his powerful form. Thor sighed again.  
He moped around his room until he was too tired to be angry anymore, and then lay down to sleep, he dreamt of sweet smelling spices and bewitching smiles.

\----

The next day, after an unappetising breakfast, Laufey announced that he and the Allfather would speak privately in the room set aside for negotiations. This allowed Thor another day, completely to himself, much to his displeasure. As it turned out, there is very little for an Aesir to do on Jotunheim. Thor decided to skip another pointless root around the palace, since that only got him into bother last time, and instead dressed as warm as possible and wandered into to palace grounds.  
It would be foolish to venture any further than that, the Jotuns in the city and small villages surrounding the palace were sure to be even more hostile than those he had already met.  
There was all kinds of unusual plant life in the palace grounds, all covered in a sheen of frost, and yet thrived none the less. There was even sunlight today, the palace seemed to be glowing in a bright ray of it and Thor stood for a moment and let the light bathe his face. It was not warm, not in the slightest, and Thor still had to pull his furs as far around him as possible, but the brightness shining down reminded him of waking up in Asgard, he already longed for home.  
The grounds turned out to be far more interesting that the palace itself. In one of the courtyards, young Jotuns were sparring under the eye of their tutor, they showed great potential and Thor stopped for a minute or two, always willing to appreciate a good technique.  
He continued his exploring and eventually came to an orchard. Large trees stretched up and formed a canopy over the land, their pale blueish vines cascaded downwards like a waterfall and blew gently in the breeze, brushing the floor. Golden fruit, much akin in shape to apples clung to the highest branches.  
Thor reached up, plucked one from its branch and took a hearty bite, he was pleasantly surprised. The fruit was sweet and delicious and better than anything else he had tasted from Jotunheim so far.  
"Good aren't they?" Purred a voice from behind him. Thor turned to find Loki watching him steadily, the prince was sat on the ground, back resting against one of the trees, a book lay open at his side.  
"They are indeed," Thor smiled, bushing some of the falling vines out of the way in order to step closer to Loki. "We do not have anything this sweet on Asgard."  
Loki looked thoughtful, he took in Thor's many layers of formal armour and furs.  
"Do you always dress this way?" He asked, Thor was taken aback by his general forward ness, especially as Loki rose from his seat and reached out to touch the metal plating on Thor's chest.  
"Urm, well no, it is not this cold on Asgard..."  
Loki hummed in amusement, gently pulling Thor's arm towards him to inspect the etching on his wrist guards.  
"Of course, how silly of me... Tell me about your realm Odinson, is Asgard as grand as they say?"  
Thor watched Loki warily as the smaller man circled him slowly, reaching out to touch every part of Thor's armour that appealed to him.  
"Indeed," he said finally, "Asgard is the grandest of all the nine realms, fine structures and good people, full of pride and cheer."  
Loki's smile faltered, and his expression became one of sadness. "Hm, If only my people shared such spirits..."  
Thor frowned as Loki dropped his gaze, hands retreating to hold his arms to his body.  
"I cannot recall the last time the people of Jotunheim felt pride or cheer."  
Silence passed between them for a moment before Thor reached out and rested a hand on Loki's shoulder. It was cold to the touch.  
"Jotunheim can be great once more." He didn't sound as confident as he would have liked. Loki looked up at him.  
"How can it, when the majority of our people live in squalor, and even the royal family struggle to hold themselves together."  
"That is why we are here," Thor said softly, "my father and I, we shall negotiate terms with Laufey, we will sign a treaty and we can help to build Jotunheim to what it once was."  
"No." Loki's voice was almost inaudible, "The All-father will not return the casket to us. And we cannot hope to improve our standard of living without it. Jotunheim will forever be a realm ridden with poverty and suffering. With the casket, Odin king sees us as too powerful to control, and yet without it, we have crumbled into nothing."  
The look of sorrow on Loki's face dug into Thor's heart, he genuinely cared for his people. Unlike Laufey, who was too proud to show weakness to outsiders, here was Loki, so afraid for his race that he would so easily share his worries with an Aesir.  
"I'm sure there is a way," Thor tried, "I can speak to my father, if I am to be king one day he will listen to me when I say that he does not know how deep this runs." Gently, he tipped Loki's head up to look into his eyes, the colour of deep red wine, and offered him what he hoped was a comforting smile. "I can help you. I want to help you."  
Loki studied his face for any sign that he was lying, and found none. He returned the smile and placed his hand over Thor's on his face.  
"Thank you." He said faintly, and leaned up to press a kiss to Thor's cheek. "Would you like me to tell you about the orchard?" He asked, linking his arm through Thor's and guiding him through the maze of tree bodies.  
"Of course." Thor replied, and allowed Loki to lead him through the grounds as he tried his best to ignore the fluttering in his stomach.


End file.
